ID Go: In December 1998, Peter Theriault, 51, fails to arrive for his shift at a car plant in Commerce City, California. Pete hasn’t missed a day of work in almost three decades. Friends and family immediately suspect something is very wrong. -The Green Eyed Monster, The Perfect Murder (S5, E7)

Army veteran Peter Theriault went missing on December 2, 1998 from Irvine, California. Live-in girlfriend Judy Valot, 54, was charged and convicted of second degree murder in January 2000 despite a body, weapon, or any physical evidence. She was found guilty of murdering Peter Theriault and disposing of his body in a California desert because she was convinced he was cheating on her. There was no evidence that Peter was in fact cheating on her. Valot appealed her conviction and was granted a new trial. And again in 2005, Judy Valot was found guilty of second degree murder. She was sentenced to fifteen years to life in prison. Judy Valot was denied parole in February 2013 as she maintains her innocence and refuses to reveal the location of Peter’s body who is still missing to this day.

Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. Download the ID Go app and binge away. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.

In suburban California, an intruder brutally attacks and kills Joan Dawley. As the Dawley family grieves, it’s up to LAPD detectives to crack the case. Secret home movies uncover a shocking tale of deceit, and a monster lurking behind the scenes. -Stages of Grief, American Monster (Investigation Discovery)

Air Force retiree Dennis Dawley, 61, with the help of prostitute and mistress, Brandita Taliano, bludgeoned to death his wife Joan Dawley of 35 years for financial gain in Van Nuys, California. Joan wanted a divorce and Dennis and Brandita wanted her inheritance money. The 1991 case went cold for years until DNA technology under Joan’s fingernails yielded a match to Brandita Taliano. Both Dennis and Brandita were charged with murder, conspiracy & solicitation and faced the death penalty. On April 15, 1997, a California jury sentenced Dawley and Taliano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The pair were spared the death penalty because they didn’t have any prior violent felony records and the jury heard the emotional pleas from Dawley’s daughters.

Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. Download the ID Go app and binge away. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.

There’s an old saying that a burden shared is a burden halved. But when people team up to commit murder, the weight of their guilt remains just as heavy. Investigators must rely on forensic science to capture partners in crime. -Partners in Crime, New Detectives (Season 5, Episode 2)

Preview: Brandita Taliano of Los Angeles, California wanted to live the high life. -Deadly Women, Investigation Discovery

Being the other woman’ is a lonely life. Some turn rejection into rage. A call girl craved the high life, a teen mom eradicated her rival, and a lesbian love affair ripped a family apart. These Deadly Women refused to play Second Best’. -Deadly Women, Investigation Discovery

This was indeed a very touching Dateline. Vietnam veteran Jim Heintz learned inadvertently that he had a fathered a child in Vietnam. Jim’s daughter submitted a DNA sample to an ancestry registry and a few weeks later she learned she had a half-sister in Vietnam. As it would turn out, Jim did in fact have a brief affair with a Vietnamese woman who worked as a “house girl” for him. They were mostly friends and made a connection right before Jim left Vietnam, a place he vowed never to visit again. Jim didn’t hesitate to connect with his new found daughter. He had fond feelings for her mother and it was obvious that he had great respect for her. He still had pictures of her in his collection of photographs taken in Vietnam. She never told him that she fathered his child; the first time he learned of it was from his daughter. He went to Vietnam with his second wife to meet his Vietnamese daughter and her family. She had done well for herself despite facing criticism from fellow Vietnamese that she was a ‘half breed’ in her own country.

Jim’s daughter Lynn wanted to join him in the United States. It was important to her to be with the only living parent she had. Lynn’s mom passed away a few years after meeting Jim and having their daughter. Jim’s daughter was orphaned when she was seven years old. It took them a while to work out the immigration issues but eventually Jim’s daughter, her husband, and his granddaughter moved to the USA. They all are appreciating the precious time they have together. Jim’s love for his daughter and her love for him is genuine and was one of the happiest ‘Father’s Day’ endings a dad could have. Amerasians Without Borders (AWB) is a non-profit in Washington state and they assist with the reunification of US service members and children in Vietnam. They also submit DNA samples to various DNA ancestry sites to assist with the reunification process. In the course of this programming, we learned that Congress passed a law ‘American Homecoming Act’ allowing Vietnamese children fathered by American GIs to come to America legally so they can reunite with their family.

The American Homecoming Act or Amerasian Homecoming Act, was an Act of Congress giving preferential immigration status to children in Vietnam born of U.S. fathers. The American Homecoming Act was written in 1987, passed in 1988, and implemented in 1989.[1] The act increased Vietnamese Amerasian immigration to the U.S. because it allowed applicants to establish mixed race identity by appearance alone. –Wikipedia

If you or someone you know wants to find a child that may have been fathered in Vietnam, you are encouraged to contact AWB and submit a DNA sample with ancestry sites.

Editor’s Note: You can watch the full episode of Dateline for a limited time on the NBC app. Download the app and binge on the last couple years of programming.

Keith Morrison follows a cold case for nearly 10 years, as a father in Hawaii fights to bring his daughter’s killer to justice despite one setback after another. -Dateline NBC

Sandra Galas

On June 15, 2018, Dateline premiered ‘The Other Side of Paradise’ on NBC. It’s the true crime story of Sandra Galas and her father’s quest for cold case justice. Air Force retiree Larry Mendonca’s daughter Sandra was found strangled to death in her car in the garage of her home on January 25, 2006 in ‘Ele’ele, Hawaii. The case went unsolved for years and if not for the efforts of her father Larry, the case may never have been solved. For years, Sandra’s estranged husband Darren Galas was the prime suspect. Darren had a history of domestic violence and it was rumored that he was angry Sandra was dating someone new. It wasn’t until 2012, investigators were able to pin Darren to the crime with the use of new forensic techniques, specifically touch DNA from evidence at the scene of the crime was a match to Darren Galas. In January 2018, twelve years after the murder, Darren Galas entered a no contest plea in court for a charge of first degree assault, a class B felony. The judge accepted his plea and he was found guilty. In March 2018, Galas was sentenced to a ten year open prison term for his connection to the crime, the maximum that could be imposed. Unfortunately, due to parental alienation, Sandra’s father Larry has no relationship with her two children. He claims Darren has brainwashed them to hate both their mother and her family.

Editor’s Note: You can watch the full episode of Dateline for a limited time on the NBC app. Download the app and binge on the last couple years of programming.

Darren Galas, 40 of Kalaheo was arrested for the 2006 murder of his estranged wife, Sandra Galas. -KHON2 News (2012)

A 2006 Kauai case has new witnesses and interviews. -KITV (2012)

The body of Sandra Galas was found in her garage in Eleele on Jan. 25, 2006. -KHON2 News (2018)